Electric Our Lady land: guitar made from burned Notre Dame wood / Photo: JOEL SAGET - AFP/File
Electric Our Lady land: guitar made from burned Notre Dame wood
France's Notre Dame cathedral on Tuesday got a unique memento of the fire that ravaged it seven years ago -- an electric guitar made from wood scarred by the flames.
In 2019 a fire tore through the storied cathedral in central Paris, badly damaging the UNESCO world heritage site.
Oak floor boards in one of the bell towers were among the parts damaged, too burned to be used in restoration work that led to the church's reopening to the public in 2024.
But Jonathan Berg, a luthier in the town of Dax in southwestern France, had an idea "to rebuild in my own way" -- he used the timber to make an electric guitar.
"It's tortured wood, it bears traces of its past life," he said of the instrument that he spent three months crafting.
On Tuesday, the guitar was presented to the public body overseeing the cathedral's restoration, Rebatir Notre-Dame de Paris.
The instrument will not be sold and will be played only "as part of partnerships benefiting the additional restoration work", which is ongoing, the agency said.
"It is exceptional because it is made entirely from solid wood taken from the north belfry of Notre-Dame de Paris," said Philippe Jost, head of the public body.
B.Bhattacharya--MT
